


My Clint in Age of Ultron Meta

by skyfallat221b



Series: Clint Metas. [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Meta, it's meta, this isn't a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 06:24:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4656027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyfallat221b/pseuds/skyfallat221b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>or as I otherwise call it, the sequel to my Clint in the MCU meta, that you guys have been asking for (or not), but here you have it anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Clint in Age of Ultron Meta

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm posting this here too, because a tumblr post might be too intricate to load all the pictures and such, so I thought "Who not here?!" And so it was.

or as I otherwise call it, the sequel to my [Clint in the MCU meta](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/108852016082), that you guys have been asking for (or not), but here you have it anyway. (Just because I can).

I can’t promise that any of this makes any sort of sense, but if the previous meta is anything to go by, you are absolutely guaranteed to see me go way too much into detail and try to explain things that are probably just coincidences, but make me inherently happy.

It’s 9k words long. _**Ye be warned.**_

Shall we get started? 

(The only spoilery thing in this meta is that I talk about which team Hawkeye is on, when it comes to the Tony vs Steve thing, but that’s about it).

* * *

 

Ever since Phase I ended with Avengers Assemble, which left Clint with what seemed like an injured leg (cf the end of my previous meta), we haven’t heard of him.

At all. Nothing. At all.

The closest we ever got to hearing of him was Joe Russo telling us that him and his brother had decided to initially get him to cameo in the Winter Soldier in this glorious sequence: 

 

> “What it was going to be, we were trying to complicate the relationship between Cap and his S.H.I.E.L.D agent friends. If Hawkeye got a call from S.H.I.E.L.D saying Captain America is a fugitive, would he listen to that call or not listen to that call? That sequence actually was heartbreaking for us to cut it. I think it ultimately might have been a conflict with Renner’s schedule. But there was a great sequence where Hawkeye was chasing Cap through Washington D.C. there was an awesome sequence where they confronted each other in a ravine on the outskirts of D.C. and Hawkeye was shooting a series of arrows closing in on Cap, Cap closing in on him. And then Cap took him down and he realized for the first time that Hawkeye was trying to trick S.H.I.E.L.D, where he whispered something into Cap’s ear that Cap had a tracker on his suit and to punch Hawkeye to make it look real, because there was a Quinjet hovering above where they were watching the feedback back at S.H.I.E.L.D. So it was a cool sequence. But look, there’s a million iterations of films, and especially when dealing with Marvel movies where characters can come in or come out during the creative process. And you keep working and working like a Rubik’s Cube till you find the right configuration where everything lines up. So even though we lost that sequence, I think we may have streamlined the movie and made it a little bit more propulsive.” ([x](http://screenrant.com/hawkeye-captain-america-2-role-explained/))

What’s interesting with how I read that scene now, is that in the light of the Civil War line up and teams (and conflict), I really like to think that Hawkeye was on Steve’s side for most of it. Especially in this particular scene: Hawkeye was supposedly going to help Steve escape by getting fake punched and lying to SHIELD through method acting.

Loyalty? It’s to his friends and to those he think are important. And, I believe it’s very interesting to see this now, knowing about what the D23 said about the trailer, but I’ll keep this low because of mild spoilers. (I guess.)

ANYWAY.

Since this scene was scrapped, there’s no reason to believe that it is canon (though it can totally be. It’s only because of Renner’s schedule that it didn’t happen, but alas...)

Let’s move on to the first mention of Clint in the MCU which comes before Age of Ultron.

Natasha Romanoff’s necklace. As much as I want to go back to 2013 where it was all beautiful and amazing, and the fact that Scarlett Johansson took the personal decision to wear it, I can’t because of what Age of Ultron developed. I’m not going to pretend that it doesn’t mean anything - it was there. Natasha trusts Clint enough to wear him on her sleeve (almost literally) through most of the movie, and she wears him as a nod to their friendship (and possible romance, though we know now that it’s not a thing).

Scarlett and Jeremy are very good friends, and after Renner’s disgruntled reaction to his brainwashed zombie Clint, I’m pretty sure that Scarlett took the decision to further his character like she’s done her own. (As much as possible, that is, anyway).

However, the first very real mention of Clint is this one :

[The Avengers: Operation HYDRA prelude comic](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Avengers:_Operation_HYDRA). Now, you guys probably saw that I posted a masterpost of all the Prelude comics that Marvel has released that coincide with the MCU, but in case you missed it, [here it is](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/127264763082). These comics are as much a part of MCU canon as their movie counterparts, so it’s always interesting to look into them. 

What we know about Clint this far, what with Fury’s Big Week, Avengers Assemble and [The Avengers: The Avengers Initiative](https://comicstore.marvel.com/Marvels-the-Avengers-The-Avengers-Initiative-1/digital-comic/26301), is that Clint and Nick Fury are incredibly close friends, and colleagues.

In the Avengers Initiative, it is revealed that Fury asked Clint to test the Helicarrier’s defenses by pretending to be a bad guy:

Fury trusted Clint to check on the security of the Helicarrier, which he did and he managed to find loopholes (he managed to download the entire Avenger Initiative filedrive before Widow electrocuted him).

Do you imagine? This means that Fury trusted Clint the most to test the security of the Helicarrier. And, knowing that Clint was the one to lead the attack against it in the first movie, just further proves the point between the close friendship Fury and Clint share in the MCU. (And, knowing that Fury and Clint were incredibly close friends in the Ultimates comics, I am now not in the least surprised about the developments in Age of Ultron regarding their inspiration in the Ultimates comics).

ANYWAY. Moving on to the actual first mention of Clint in the MCU after the phase I movies have wrapped up: The Operation Hydra comic. 

In this comic, it’s hinted at that Natasha has been tracking the Scepter that has gone missing (see [This Sceptre’d Isle Infinite Comic](https://comicstore.marvel.com/Avengers-Age-of-Ultron-Prelude-This-Sceptred-Isle-Infinite-Comic-1/digital-comic/36656) for more details on how Strucker got their hands on the scepter), and the first we see of Clint is this panel:

Clint is practicing at the range, with Jarvis in his ear.

He proceeds to shoot three arrows within 1.9 seconds, and Jarvis responds that it’s not a bad average speed. 

Clint comments that he could do without the commentary. Now, I want you to notice the position that Clint takes: it’s that of distress, as seen [here](http://myreferenceblog4u.tumblr.com/post/98254378373/theinformationdump-body-language-cheat-sheet): 

Look familiar?

Now, allow me to compare with Fraction’s brilliant Hawkeye run which is very familiar with the rub the nape of the neck when upset gesture:

(Yes I included Barney doing it, sue me).

The fact that he is distressed at JARVIS noticing that it’s quite the achievement breaks my heart, because this is his thing. It’s his little thing, archery, that’s what he does.

His internal monologue here breaks my heart:

I’ve already made [a post about this quote](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/127181922437) and what I think it means, but I’ll just repeat it here. Clint is wondering whether or not he has a place on the team.

He wonders if he has what it takes to go up against Thor, Hulk, Steve even Natasha and Tony. He was never a part of the Avengers Initiative - in the Avengers Initiative comic that I mention above (where he tests the Helicarrier’s security), he hears and sees all about the Initiative. The only members on that sheet is Steve Rogers, the Hulk, Iron Man and Thor. Aka Marvel’s big four. No Natasha, no Clint.

And yet, here they are, both members of the team. Natasha’s out on a mission for SHIELD in the Operation Hydra comic, tracking the scepter and trying to get a hand on it, but Clint? Clint has been practicing his archery. Is this a reminder of his brainwashing and what he has been recuperating from? 

Is this why he trains so hard? Is this why he wonders if he has a spot on the team? 

JARVIS contacts the rest of the Avengers in the comic, and next we know, Clint has picked them all up in the Quinjet - again, Clint is the one behind the wheel. I talked in my previous meta about the fact that Clint is an excellent pilot and that he is almost always behind the steering wheel of the quinjet and Age of Ultron furthers this statement (he is the one to keep an eye over Seoul, he is the one to take them to his safehouse).

This is also one of the first times we see Iron Man make a quirk at Clint’s usefulness on the team, after Clint lands the quinjet relatively safely: “That’s it. Next time, I drive.” (Yes, we know you never let anyone drive you anywhere, Tony, but you’ve got the suit. You could have flown there yourself, you know).

Then, a bit after that, during the battle against the HYDRA goons, chief of bad guys Doctor Jensen says this to one of her goons:

Again, this is a joke at Clint’s preferred weapon and at his usefulness on the team. Then, bad guy Doctor Jensen here picks up the weapon, incapacitates the big Four Avengers, and it ends up being down to Clint to save the day:

Of course he does. He saves the day. He saves the day, and then his internal monologue goes as follows:

(It’s okay, Clint, baby. It’s alright. Don’t worry. You’ve got all that it takes).

He realizes that he has friends to keep him up and tell him that he has a place on the team - however, that joke Iron Man did earlier? That’s pretty mean. I’ll mention this a bit later when another joke of the sort is made in the actual movie, and that’ll probably change your mind about the quote itself. (I know that when I realized it was mean, I was like ‘... poor Clint.’

ALRIGHT SO NOW THIS PRELUDE COMIC IS DONE WE CAN FINALLY MOVE ONTO THE ACTUAL MOVIE ITSELF.

I realize that Clint is the first to see Pietro in the field and also the last (like my child, please). Anyway, yes, let us take the movie chronologically as it advances.

I will ask you to pay attention to this particular line that Herr Strucker utters relatively early in the attack on his base:

Does he mean Clint and Natasha? He probably means Clint. He knows all about Clint, he is a part of SHIELD, or at least he was a part of SHIELD. He has probably worked with Clint before, and he knows that he is the most human and the weakest one out of the entire team.

The twins, at this point, are listening in on the conversation. A hit may make them close ranks? Are you sure, Strucker? Seriously, you bastard. 

THEN, the twins head out on their own. Pietro heads out first, and who the fuck does he go for first? CLINT MOTHERFUCKING BARTON. “Concentrate fire on the weak ones.” I think you took that a bit too seriously, Pietro. 

([x](http://a-world-of-our-very-own.tumblr.com/post/127260323374/the-last-i-saw-of-him-ultron-was-sitting-on-him))

The fact that Pietro went for Clint makes me wonder if he knew that the bunker would shoot him next. Whatever, the bunker does what it does, and what we get is an Oscar worthy pain groan from Jeremy Renner on the ground:

([x](http://bobbimorses.tumblr.com/post/127269660986))

What was it Strucker said? A hit may make them close ranks? Well, you obviously succeeded. You went for the least protected one, and you injured him enough for him to actually not make it back up to a stand - knowing Clint’s past injuries, you can bet your ass that this must hurt a whole lot if he isn’t getting up again. 

What pisses me off is that Clint then has to get FUCKING CARRIED BY THOR TO THE FUCKING JET.

He is out of the fight before any of the important stuff even HAPPENS. Wanda still hasn’t played with their minds, Pietro has barely done ANY damage (well, except to him, you know), and now Strucker’s instructions are working out: they’re closing ranks. Thor takes care of Clint, Natasha takes care of Hulk, Steve takes care of Strucker and Tony takes care of the Scepter.

There is nothing Clint can do until now, except wait out on the Quinjet til they get back to Cho’s lab so that she can fix him. Out of ALL of them, he is the ONLY one to get injured badly enough that he needs medical evacuation. You can bet your ass that he knows this and that it is a pretty heavy weight on his conscience - if you were the only weak one in your team of friends, you’d feel it, every day of the week, every waking hour. Right?

At this point, he’s probably too in pain to realize it, but he’s is very aware of it.

Next scene we see Clint in, Thor has just put him down on the gurney in the jet, and he is very immobile. The pain must be excruciating for him not to move, and he doesn’t participate in the post-fight banter. He doesn’t comment when Natasha talks to Bruce, and the only thing we see is Steve putting in a drip in his hand, probably to give him painkillers. He basically still hasn’t said anything else than ‘I think we lost the element of surprise’ this far, and we’re already 15 minutes into the movie... Sound any reminiscent of the first one?

And, to make it WORSE, Helen Cho is flYING OUT OF SEOUL TO THE TOWER TO FIX BARTON.

So, first of, Barton gets hit as the ONLY one on the team, then they have to FLY SOMEONE OUT FROM SEOUL ALL THE WAY TO FUCKING NEW YORK TO FIX HIM? 

I mean, thanks Tony, but I think that if I were in Clint’s shoes, I’d see this as even further proof that he has no place on the team. Like, regular doctors could fix him, but then he’d be out for too long. (My poor Clint.)

When they FINALLY make it to New York, Barton is the first one out of the jet and taken directly in by Cho. Natasha follows him closely while they exit, not leaving his side until he is better (or at least under the printer).

Then, when Clint is FINALLY more or less awake, we get this:

And you know what? It pisses me off. You wanna know why? Because all these remarks this far, they remind me A LOT of the No More Bullying comic that Marvel released not too long ago.

It’s pissing me off to no fucking end and I’M YELLING IN MY HEAD RIGHT NOW. CLINT SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF GODDAMMIT YOU ARE A VALUABLE ASSET OF THIS TEA-

Alright, sorry, I got carried away. But still. Do you see it now, all the snark and the banter, directed at Clint? 

Back to the movie. THE FIRST TIME CLINT TALKS AGAIN SINCE THE FIRST LINE IS 17 AND A HALF MINUTES INTO THE MOVIE. I feel like this is very reminiscent of the first one, except this time, he’s not a brainwashed zombie. And what does he speak to?

([x](http://iamnevertheone.tumblr.com/post/127176221864))

It’s another joke! Pretending to need this guy? Seriously, Natasha, you’re going to go there? You are going to actually say that you pretend to need the guy? Alright, it’s a joke. But, in the continuity of said joke, Tony gives with this:

And if you don’t think that this teasing actually hurts Clint, then... You might not be reading into this as much as I do. But this far, there has been so many jokes, and the only way that Clint replies to them is this:

He is completely drugged out of his mind on painkillers. He hasn’t seen or heard anything else than injury/pain/heal for the past hours and he has to defend himself from his teammates who are making fun of him. He’s expendable because he’s the weakest link, they just saw that out in the field. Didn’t they?

Let’s skip to the party scene, which is mentioned to happen on ‘Saturday’ which is at least three days after Clint’s injury has been healed. I wondered [in some tags](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/127233058852) on some of my previous reblogs of these things about the pain. Does his body know it’s bonding with fake tissue? Does the nerve know this? Cho says they do, but there must be some sort of pain. That injury looked severe, and I believe that there has to be some sort of phantom pain - kind of like amputated people who still experience ghost pain. 

How weak did that make him? How much blood did he loose? HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO PRINT THE TISSUE? She says the Cradle could do it in 20 minutes, so how long did this take? How long has he been on painkillers for? 

At this point in time, we still didn’t know that Laura existed, but knowing she does now, did he speak to her? Did Natasha speak to her? 

Let’s move onto the party scene.

We see Clint and Helen talk. He’s not in the center of the party, he is against the railing which showcases that he wants to keep some distance from the rest of the people. Being at the railing also allows him to keep an eye on all of the guests, since it’s a high vantage point - there are many people here, and he might want to keep track of who and why they are here.

We don’t see him until after the party is done and they’re jesting about Mjolnir. And, again, even though he is the one to get to the Mjolnir trick part, he gets mocked by Tony again:

He then tries to lift Mjolnir, and tells Thor that he has seen this struggle before (cf Thor).

After having all the others try to lift Mjolnir, Clint retreats to the side of the conversation:

He was sitting in the middle of the circle of friends in the beginning of the scene, and now he’s moved to the side, to the edge of it, further than any of them - he is pretty far away from Steve and pretty far away from Tony. 

Then, we get Ultron’s sudden shenanigans, and Clint stays behind the others yet again. He keeps his distance, while Thor, Steve, Tony, Maria and Natasha get ready to fight back. When the fight does suddenly happen, Clint seeks cover.

( [x](http://pennyroyalorange.tumblr.com/post/127292712042) )

[alphaflyer](http://tmblr.co/m-VpPh82zrgZbtpxFw9H5jQ) helped me on this, because on the tags of the reblog I made of the above gifs, I discussed why Clint went for cover. My first thought was about his recent injury- does it still hurt? Are his cells still bonding with the tissue that Cho printed?

Then, I thought about whether or not it was a choice for him to not go for a weapon. Because he doesn’t. Natasha gets her hands on a gun pretty fast, Maria has one immediately in her hands, but Clint stays empty handed. I thought, maybe, there’s a reason for that. 

Because the last time we canonically see him with a gun in his hands, is when Loki has just brainwashed him, and he shoots Maria Hill and Nick Fury in the first movie. Can he not shoot a gun since that anymore? Does he get tremors in his hands? Does it start shaking? Does he miss the shots he takes? Did the lie he told Loki about not being at his best with a gun finally come true?

When he does get up though, to assess the situation better and to finally take the decision to go for Cap’s shield, he gets thrown back through another window:

( [x](http://pennyroyalorange.tumblr.com/post/127292712042) )

But there it is, the shield, and he goes for it to finish off the fight:

([x](http://grootmorning.tumblr.com/post/127164285417/cap))

The moment that Cap gets the shield, he destroys the last of the bots, and the fight is over. Clint hasn’t done very much, but he has assessed the situation. However, he looks absolutely exhausted here:

Ultron obviously scares him, because he speaks of death and destructin and extinction, and you can bet your ass that Ultron’s speech echoes the words of Loki in Clint’s head. Both of them came from the Scepter, and I’m absolutely 100% sure that Clint knows that Ultron comes from the Scepter.

There, we see Clint worry. Because, Ultron has been in SHIELD’s files, in Tony’s files, in HIS files. Does he know, about him? About who he is? At this point, I’m pretty sure Clint is worried about Laura and the kids, but I’m also thinking about the fact that he is afraid of Ultron and the fact that Ultron comes from the Scepter. If Ultron uses that connection, Ultron might come for Clint, and I think that it’s a realy possibility in Clint’s mind that he’s the next in line. 

Ultron stole the scepter. What is he going to do with it?

Then, Clint asks the real question:

(Sorry about your face, Renner, I can only screencap as good as I can). 

Have you guys noticed that Clint is keeping his distances from everybody, now? He stays behind the railing still in this scene, and he doesn’t get involved in any of the actual discussion actively. He stays behind a line of protection, because he doesn’t want to get involved.

Is this because he didn’t want to go back out into the team? Is this because, after Loki, he hasn’t been on any missions, until Natasha pulled him out of the retirement? 

I feel like there is something about his placement in scenes that screams that he doesn’t want to be a part of the team, or that he hasn’t been a part of the team for a while. Again, I call Post-Loki. He has been recovering somewhere, and he’s still not completely cleared or ready to get into this mess. 

After the Wanda and Pietro meet Ultron talk, and the Strucker is dead banksy thing (though, let’s not be fooled, I don’t believe for one second that Strucker is dead, nobody ever dies in Marvel except Uncle Ben), the next we see, is Clint on the phone:

([x](http://daily-barton.tumblr.com/post/127265624551/whos-that-girlfriend))

He says ‘That’s a negative. I anwser to you. (..) Yes ma’am.’ Then, he tells Steve it was a girlfriend. (Though we know it’s Laura.)

At this point, I don’t think that Clint would be the kind of person to call home in the middle of something unless he had something important to discuss - and I think that he really wants to talk to Laura about getting out. Since the beginning of the movie, he has been laughed at, mocked, told he isn’t important, injured, carried in Thor’s arms, and I’m pretty sure he’s tired of it. He looks so resigned in the last gif... It makes me sad.

THEN WE GET TO THE LOOK THROUGH OLD FILES THING.

And guess who is still keeping his distances from everybody else?

Clint is! If you hadn’t noticed this by now, you have now. All of the team members talk in this discussion of thief and Wakanda and whatnot, but Clint is quiet as a rock. He doesn’t peep a single word. Nothing. He just observes. From a distance, again.

Now, I’ve seen posts that talk about the fact that he might have been Tahiti’d, and even though I dislike that idea, I can’t help but sort of get a tingly feeling that him acting so off around them is because he doesn’t trust them - so either it’s because he knows something is wrong and they are keeping something from him, or, he is just genuinely worried about Laura and he wants out to go be with his pregnant wife and children before the world turns to shit.

So far, in the missions, he hasn’t brought them anything, he hasn’t helped them. Can he help them take down Ultron? He probably doesn’t think so. 

Let’s move onto the boatyard fight.

Tadah, our precious favourite Clint going on stealth mode same as Natasha to overlook the situation. Thor, Cap and Iron Man are talking with Ultron, Wanda and Pietro, while Bruce is waiting in the Quinjet.

As I’ve mentioned before, Clint likes being up high, to keep an eye on everything: so far, he looks at the entire scene. When Iron Man, Cap and Thor start hitting back, Ulysses Klaw orders to shoot, and suddenly a whole lot of things are happening. Natasha goes on hand to hand combat, and he stays high up to overlook the situation.

From the position he is in, he sees EVERYTHING.

Like. Seriously.

(Also that pose, excuse you Renner, you are not allowed).

Clint notices everything. Or I think he does, since he usually sees it all. When Stark and Ultron go out of the boat, that’s when the Scarlet Witch decides to do mindgames, and Clint has probably noticed that by now, she hasn’t done anything. (Or at least I think so). 

Clint hears Cap and Thor talk about the girl warping his mind, and then he probably sees Cap get the same treatment.

So, he sees Wanda go for Cap, for Thor, for Natasha, and then he PREPARES for Wanda to come for him. Why, might you ask?

Remember, in the first movie, when he plays with his quiver to get the grappling arrow? It takes a couple of seconds for it to get to the right arrow. Now, if you allow me to show you:

He’s just shot his tick-tick boom arrow, and in the time it takes him to wait for Wanda to creep up on him:

He must have prepared the arrow. (Like why would he even stop shooting in the first place? He’s been shooting thugs and trying to help out the other big Avengers this far, suddenly he lowers his bow?)

Wanda, you’re not a good tactician yet and it’s going to take more than that to take our Clint by surprise.

He graps the arrow as soon as her hands are up, and he incapacitates her by frying her brain’ish.

Then, he checks behind her, to make sure she is alone (look out for PIetro?) he delivers his line (Done the whole mind control thing, not a fan, and boy, do we not blame you Clint, absolutely not), and then HE GOES TO REMOVE THE ARROW FROM HER HEAD.

He CLEARLY reaches out for it here before Pietro comes and shoves him through a window. It makes me wonder, what would he have said to Wanda? To stop? Look into my head and tell me I’m a bad guy? What you’re doing is compromising everything on this planet? You want to kill Stark, alright, but please don’t kill everyone else in the process?

Would he have dad’d her?

([x](http://pennyroyalorange.tumblr.com/post/127188716862/ive-done-the-whole-mind-control-thing-not-a-fan))

And this echoes the first scene again, where Pietro, ONCE AGAIN, shoves Clint to the ground in the middle of the mission. There isn’t much to do now except wait for the team to stumble around. 

He tries to rally people:

But, they are too far gone. In the time it takes Clint to get to them (the time they have their flashbacks), Ultron and Stark are still fighting outside, Wanda and Pietro are going for Banner and getting better.

When Stark asks for a lullaby - he doesn’t know what has been happening with Wanda’s mind warping - Clint shuts him down immediately:

Clint straight up tells Tony to fuck it and handle Hulk on his own (maybe Clint doesn’t know that Hulk is going berserk, maybe he doesn’t care), but Clint takes it on HIM to get the others back to the jet.

Where are Pietro and Wanda, now? Did they leave to go with Ultron? With the vibranium? They probably did. Clint has to make sure that the area is secure, though, so he has to take the others by the hand (he can’t carry Steve or Thor), and lead them back into safety.

I like to think that he tried to talk to them to get them down onto the ground again, to reality, by telling them all that they do and to snap out of it. (I do wonder if he tried hitting them on the head like Natasha did him. But sadly, we will never know).

However, just imagine Clint holding Thor by the hand and carrying him back to the Quinjet. Mjolnir is still lying where Pietro fell with it, so how does Mjolnir get to the Jet and the farm? Did Clint suddenly lift it, or did he request Thor to take it? (Did they retrieve it during the flight out?)

What do we see? Bruce is done fucked up, Natasha is wondering where she is (she still hasn’t snapped out of it), Steve is staring out into the nothingness, Thor is rubbing his hand. 

I wonder if the holding his hand part is an echo to this:

And then, we see that CLINT is the one piloting the Jet. NOT STARK.

The entire team is down, and Clint is the only one to have a clear mind: get them to safety. I think a big part of this, and what is coming now, is due to Clint’s issues from before - wanting out, wanting to have peace, realizing he has no place on the team.

I spoke to [clevervulpus](http://tmblr.co/mnwwB6yeV22Gw6Ssoaa6upw) about this when I did the first draft of this meta, and I’ll say it here: Clint takes over the jet from Tony. He calls the shots now. He hasn’t said ANYTHING since the beginning of the movie that shows he has an opinion or that he thinks they should do this and that, but look here:

CAN WE DISCUSS THIS PLEASE. Well, if you’re still reading, you’re probably going to want to. (Reminder: this is barely 1 hour into the movie, we still have an hour and 20 minutes to go, maybe you should take a break?)

(Who am I kidding?)

Clint takes over the jet from Tony after Johannesburg. He takes over and doesn’t let Tony near the driver’s seat because he doesn’t trust Stark to do the right thing. He decides to bring the team to a time-out, because Lord knows how long they’ve been hunting for the scepter, and they’ve fought so many battles, but now they’ve met the enhanced and they need fucking rest, okay, far away from anything that might distract them. 

So what does he do? He takes them home. His priority is to see if Laura is fine, and also to take care of Natasha, the way she took care of him when he took the hit in the opening sequence. Letting the others in, I’m not sure if he’s alright with this, but... Thor leaves again right away anyway.

I like to think that Thor and Clint like each other more than they show, probably because they’ve discussed what happened in Thor. (Because they both have a mad brother who stabbed them in the back?)

I’m going to skip ahead and say this: when Laura tells Clint later on that the Avengers need him, she is DAMN WELL FUCKING RIGHT. Because they forget that they are human and need time for themselves every now and then. Do you know why? Stark is a high functioning creature of press and riches, he doesn’t know when to stop and it’s his coping mechanism. 

Tony laughs at the Ultron oops in the beginning, because he doesn’t seem to realize the extent of damage Ultron can do - I’m not saying he hasn’t realized that yet, BUT to Clint, he probably doesn’t know. In Clint’s eyes, Stark is a mad scientist, even though he has PTSD and alcohol issues (seen in IM3).

Thor and his entire world is distorted and freaky, because magic and what else do you know. Eternity. That isn’t possible.

Natasha, oh, Natasha, my sweet dear Natasha. She has lost EVERYTHING already - SHIELD was her duty, and she hasn’t got that anymore. Except trying to get the Hulk under control (which is a thing Cap and Stark agreed on, she needs to manipulate Banner so he stays with them instead of going back into hiding, and that’s the only way I see their ‘romance’ working out, because she was working him like a target).

Steve has his ghost hunting to do, his entire world is fucked up and he needs to realize not everybody is soldiers and not everyone wants to be collateral damage in their fights. (Clint is that part of the chessboard: he is collateral damage).

In this, Clint and Fury are good friends, just like in the Ultimates comics. The only way for them to see the bigger picture and that the world will burn if they don’t get a grasp - show him his kids. His wife. The future that they need. How do you get fucking superheroes to focus? Show them the ones they are supposed to protect. Children, women. Kids. PUNKS. (Maximoff twins are just kids, right?)

Because, these things are what Clint thinks about before every mission. What is the bigger picture? And, I think he gets that from Laura, who grounds him, so he can ground the Avengers. 

MOVING ON.

I want you to pay close attention next time you watch that CLINT FUCKING BEAMS IN THIS SCENE.

HE FUCKING SHINES LIKE A BRIGHT LIGHT AND IS JUST SO HAPPY AND PROUD AND BEAUTIFUL. He even takes a deep fucking breath when Laura says that she knows all of the others’ names.

He just showed the team his heart. His family, and his heart, and he is so proud of it. So proud of it.

I’m going to go a bit out of the topic, and address this:

Steve looks so out of place, and I’m sure he wonders if he ever could have had this too, and I think he realizes here that his darkest fear isn’t something he should be afraid of nor should he let it get him down. 

Let’s move back to our character of interest, aka Clint. During the scene where he talks with Laura, it’s the longest scene in the movie where he has regular lines, and it is very parallel to the scene in the first movie where Natasha oversees him waking up from Loki’s mind control.

Now, let’s fast forward to this scene:

I would like to talk about the fact that the first thing Clint says here, in regards to Laura pointing out that the team is made of superheroes, is that he doesn’t think they need him. He assumes her opinion based on his OWN, which tells a lot: he doesn’t think that they need him.

Laura promptly corrects him, and tells him that he needs to take care of the team.

Clint takes responsibility for them - Nat, I can understand, but now Steve and Tony too? They need someone to ground them, guide them and help them through this because they’ve had their brains meddled with. He needs them to be back on track, for the sake of Laura and the kids.

After that, Laura tells him that they’re going to be outnumbered.

She uses the words ‘need’ before she tells him that he just needs to be sure they have his back.

Literally, she just saw her husband fine for the first time since the injury in Sokovia, and she knows it’s going to end up pretty badly for him again.

She has to tell him to ground himself again, to remember what the point is - he joined SHIELD and Fury helped him set up the secret family. Is this what he did? Joined the military part of SHIELD and became an agent that they needed. He had to compromise.

In the next scene, Laura works with Clint and Fury to get Stark isolated from the others so Fury can dad Stark into behaving, like he did in IM2. 

ARCHERY PRACTICE TARGET.

Stark and Fury talk about shutting Ultron down, about saving the world and finding out what ails Tony: the end of the Avengers.

Then, we skip to the dinner scene: Laura disappears from the home to put the kids to bed, so that they can talk business and dangerous things. (Clint hands Lila her toy rabbit).

Clint stays down stairs, to help them out in the conversation. He lets Fury take over in his own home, and what do we see happening again?

Clint is stepping back again. He lets Fury take over, he stays behind, and is as passive as he was in the ‘let’s look for clues!’ scene from the beginning where they find Ulysses Klaw.

I mean, is there possibly an EVEN PASSIVE POSITION THAN THIS? Seriously, like why does he even bother???? Clint, you have issues.

You want out of this team, don’t you? Let’s move on to this scene:

And, I think that, as [solrosan](http://tmblr.co/mJp_pAMJM-PvwXWuXZq-v3w) stated, that what he says here is two things: a) the obvious, no more rebuilding homes. (Was that a nod to Renner’s home renovation business, btw? WHO KNOWS, IT MIGHT BE), and b) last project. No more avenging. Laura told him earlier that she NEEDS him, To be a dad. Maybe they agreed when she got pregnant with Nathaniel, no more Avenging. 

(Also, I want to say, that if it turns out Laura is indeed a SHIELD agent and Clint has been TAHITI’d, and if you guys come into my inbox yelling that I was an idiot and a moron and I didn’t see it, I will personally HUNT YOU DOWN AND DESTROY YOUR SOUL).

(Am I understood?)

Then, we move to Seoul.

Clint is the one to locate the truck while Natasha looks for jets.

He uses his common sense again to find the breadcrumb trail that Ultron is leaving behind. It's like the part in the first movie where he figures out that the Cube is a doorway to the other end of space within a couple of seconds – it's the most obvious thing for him to do at this point in time. Look for the most inconspicuous way for Ultron to leave the city with the Cradle.

However, after that, he says that he can blow up the truck, not knowing the power of the gem, or ignoring it (he just heard what Cho said to Cap, so either he forgot (I doubt it), or he chose to take the risk of destroying it over the risk of it destroying the city).

(Or else I just think that they didn't think this through entirely).

Then, we see him take the jet above the road: that is a dangerous maneuver, that makes him an exceedingly skilled pilot, because he has to get through buildings, traffic lights and other things like that, in order to drop Natasha off in the middle of the ruckus. Whose idea was it? Probably both of them. He lets Natasha get off in the middle of the fight while he stays up in the air because, AGAIN, he SEES BETTER FROM A FUCKING DISTANCE.

Steve and Nat are now in the field, making ‘real change’ as Ultron says (haha), and Clint is up in the air.

He then proceeds to guide Natasha all the way TO Steve and Ultron, keeping an eye on both them AND her progress. All the while maneuvering a Quinjet, which must be very fucking difficult (he has to avoid buildings and lord knows what else he has to not hit and stuff).

THEN.

And what does Clint fucking do then?

He shoots motherfucking Ultron in the motherfucking face and clears the guards:

(I actually had to make the gifs myself because LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL THING HE DOES)

([x](http://spectralarchers.tumblr.com/post/127494549847))

This is reminiscent of the scenes in the first Avengers movie where he shoots a lot Chitauri dead before he gets shot down himself. 

Next thing we know, this happens:

Clint’s first priority: explode the damn thing, because it’s in the AIR, so it might not level the city.

Second: tell the team of this - which reminds me of the scene in the first one where Natasha tells the team she can close the portal but Tony says no, WAIT!

(Natasha what the actual fuck are you doing???)

Dur bur, stupid jokes, but Clint gets ready to do what he needs to do. And then, right as they are about to win...

Yeah, Clint we know. At this point, Clint has just lost Natasha: he got the Cradle, BUT? Nat is gone. His priority has been to keep the team together and unharmed this far, and having Natasha gone and bad SUCKS major balls.

Now, I want to- talk- about- this.

Clint has just had a once over with the Cradle - he saw through the Tesseract immediately, and he was going to tear that Cradle apart until Stark and Banner came forth to do their thing. (Clint works alone, not with the others).

Clint’s attitude here is like “I don’t know what to do!” and he looks like he’s given up.

The way he says yeah, I’ll find her actually makes me think about a whole lot of other things. He also takes the handle very hardly, sort of like when he snaps open the bow with Loki in the first movie, it’s very determined - he will just do that. He has to, right?

And, it’s the only thing the others have asked him to do: he follows orders, he can also bark them out, but he needs to follow something more. And, honestly, the fact that Stark uses that fact to send him away and do his thing alone.. Alright. Whatever, Stark, send your silly super spy away to do his thing while you do mischief.

([x](http://pennyroyalorange.tumblr.com/post/127298274692))

He finds Natasha, and while that happens, Cap brings the twins with him to the cradle and walk in on Tony and Banner doing bad science things with the Cradle.

What happens when Pietro just runs around and dismantles the power sources of the Cradle?

([x](http://margaritaslevieva.tumblr.com/post/127314641647/boyfriends-%E0%B4%B0%E1%B4%97%E0%B4%B0%E0%B9%91))

He is ready AS FUCK to shoot - but not shoot to kill. He takes Pietro down before he can do more damage, he doesn’t know what just happened, but he got a gun - HE HAS A GUN GUYS.

And then, when Vision pops up, he goes up with a gun to fight too, and yet again, he stays behind when Vision is introducing himself.

Right. Clint. We know you don’t trust her, and you don’t trust a lot of people, and that Natasha is gone, but let’s just think about this for a second, alright? This is beyond your control. But anything that has to do with the Mind Stone is bad, and both Vision, Wanda AND Pietro come from the Mind Stone.

Following the Vision discussion, Cap asks Vision if he is on their side.

Clint goes the ain’t nobody got time for that way through this, and asks for details. Which he gets.

And then, he drops the information he has been waiting to drop:

After that, he gets ready to fight:

He looks back at his family. Why? Because it is what HE is fighting for. Right now, he is fighting for them, and I feel like during the entire movie he has been fighting for them: he needs to remember them, to know that this is the real deal. It’s not for him, not for the team, it’s for them.

Next thing we know, Clint is up HIGH again. He sees better from a distance, as usual, and he oversees the civilians getting away. 

He keeps down on the ground, he stays there. He stays and looks around, looks at the people, tries to look at potential threats: that is what he does. Notice he has moved down from the heights of the church, he is now down there. Ready to fight, and be on their level.

He is just a man in a fight of gods and monsters, but he will stand there anyway. This is how he fights.

He stands there to secure the bridge, to help Wanda secure the bridge and make sure as many people get off the city. He still only has his bow and arrow to fight with, but that is just it: he will fight them like any normal man would do, from the ground and on their terms.

Clint has seen a dark world. He has seen a dead world, and the next thing that Ultron talks about is how the next thing in the world will be metal. Clint saw darkness with Loki, and I honestly think it TERRIFIES him that Ultron has the same wish as Loki.

I think this is why he wants out. There is nothing in this world he wouldn’t do to save his family, but I think that he still, in Age of Ultron, has issues after Loki. Trusting his teammates? I don’t think so. Trusting anything that comes from magic? (Vision? Ultron? Pietro? Wanda?) Not an option. 

I think this is why he has been keeping his distances from the team this far. I think this is why - he was called back by Natasha in the comic prelude, and the only reason he has been fighting this far is because of Natasha. She needs him as much as he needs her, and with KIDS, FUCKING KIDS in the conflict, he has to decide to do something.

He protects Wanda from the incoming robots, and then he dads her. Wanda is loosing it - she is just a kid, and I need to remind you that this is all ON HER. She made Tony see his fears, SHE made Ultron, SHE is destroying her home city/country, SHE will be the reason mankind is annihilated if Ultron isn’t destroyed.

He tries to get her to focus.

Eye contact. Wanda is loosing it, and she needs someone to ground her from the things she sees in her mind - HER worst fears are coming true, and she caused it all.

He just made it real simple: he, the one that the twins know as the weak one (remember the first line Strucker says about making them close ranks? Wanda knows Clint is the weakest one. Pietro knew it, there is no reason for her not to know this by now), is standing up to defend these people, these people that he has never heard of or cared about, and he is doing his job.

([x](http://grootmorning.tumblr.com/post/121310157295/daddy-hawk-is-proud-of-baby-wanda))

This far, we have heard the word hero mentioned again, and again, and again. But what does Clint give her? He gives her the word Avenger. Something she can relate to, and something she can be. He gives her the choice to become an Avenger.

It doesn’t matter what you did or what you were - is that something someone told you, Clint? Is that what they told you when they came for you, for your skills? I like to think it was. And you know what he does that I like?

He shows her that he can’t wait for her reply - he has to do his job, he doesn’t have time for her to be afraid or hesitate. She needs to do this now, and instead of yelling at her to decide, he does what he does best - he shows people what it means to be a hero.

So she comes out. And she helps him out. She helps him, and she does what she needs.

I read somewhere that this line was improvised by Renner on set, so of course he knew that Pietro would die, but I am going to quote [this post](http://shadesfalcon.tumblr.com/post/127470931391/i-like-clint-i-see-better-from-a-distance-barton) by [shadesfalcon](http://tmblr.co/mD6UovpxoIGlwA5D-5rZnow)  : 

 

 

> I like Clint “I see better from a distance” Barton being the means of foreshadowing Pietro’s death.
> 
> “Yeah, he’ll be missed. Quick little bastard. I miss him already.”
> 
> It plays nicely with Clint’s ability. The predictor. He steps back and _sees_ his target, mentally fast-forwards, and knows where they’ll be. He predicts his daily targets, Wanda, and even Loki. He probably predicted Natasha. In the vocabulary of classical tropes, Clint is the prophet.
> 
> In a way, Clint “I miss him already” Barton is the only one who saw it coming at all.

He has been seeing Pietro since the beginning - he has seen the kid, the punk, this idiot since [the fucking beginning](http://maxsrockatansky.tumblr.com/post/127163812934).

Clint sees things. Maybe he has seen things nobody has seen through the Mind Gem - he saw Loki. The Chitauri. Maybe he saw Thanos? Maybe he saw a glimpse of the Infinity War to come, and that is why he wants out - because, as a human being, he can’t do much. He wants to be there for his kids. 

Wouldn’t that make sense?

Next thing we know, Clint is getting people to safety. That has been his plan since the beginning - get people to safety. No matter what happens. And that is what he will do.

So, when they need him to go protect the core, he goes:

He brings Wanda to the core, and he stands his ground on this fight. The bots are coming from all sides and there is no way for them to win unless they work together.

But the bow and arrow, it’s a weapon for distance, not for close combat. So what does he do?

He THROWS it at a bot. And then-

He goes at them with his FISTS. He is everything with his bow, but right then and there he has NOTHING. Let’s do a headcount:

Natasha has guns, Pietro has his speed, Wanda has her powers, Stark his suit, Thor his mightiness and Mjolnir, Cap his SHIELD, Hulk his Hulkness and Vision has the fricking Gem Stone to fight with. But Clint?

He throws punches at the robots with his very own fists, and that is the most important thing I have ever thought about, and it makes me weep at night.

Clint, the weakest man on the team, so far everyone knows it, is fighting with all he has to stand up among Gods and monsters to save the world he is a part of.

It amazes me. It straight out of hell amazes me.

When it is all said and done, he continues to see the big picture.

([x](http://grootmorning.tumblr.com/post/121310157295/daddy-hawk-is-proud-of-baby-wanda))

He gives her approval - she is the one responsible for this. Everything. So she gets one chance at fixing it, by taking care of the core and protecting it. It’s her job. It is her absolute job to do this, and he knows it better than all the other Avengers present - even Pietro.

Then, he goes to the lifeboats.

The second he steps on that lifeboat, he breathes out - he is safe, he is going to get out of there. He doesn’t have to do any more, it’s out of his hands. He can’t fight the fight of gods and monsters anymore, but then he sees someone he has to help - a kid.

Just like that kid from the bus in the first movie, he goes straight for him, because this is it. Kids. Their future. Their life.

It’s what he does.

Clint is ready to die. He takes the decision to die - and as close as it is to deciding to kill yourself, I know it comes pretty close. He was going to die. He was going to die and protect that kid, and he was fine with that, because it was his decision and he was in control of it.

But then, another Kid, another Child he was supposed to protect went ahead and took that from him.

He doesn’t understand. He should have seen it coming. He should have seen it coming, dammit! But he didn’t!

The look that he shoots at Cap has so much emotion in it, I might actually cry.

He says there that it was his fault. His responsibility. He was the one who was supposed to die, not Pietro. There was no need for Pietro to die - he had taken the decision to do it. 

When he brings the kid back, he is tired.

He is so tired. He is injured again, and he doesn’t care - because a child is dead. And it is his fault.

He doesn’t want medical help, he just wants peace and quiet. He wants to go out - this was not what he signed up for. He needs to go back to where he is in control, and these fights?

They aren’t control. They aren’t what he signed up for, Natasha knows this.

Vision says a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts. Clint knows this. He knows that the fight won’t last, and that it will end dirty.

So he goes home.

He goes back to Laura. Bruised and battered, but in a world where he belongs.

Why?

Because he has seen things. Terrible, terrible things, and he has realized all during this time that he doesn’t have a place among the team - he is the weakest one, and a liability.

Which is why he chooses to stay put.

All this movie, Clint has been out of place - staying out of the group shots, out of the group of discussions, he has been doing what he could, but it’s all become too much now.

Clint was never supposed to be among these people. He wasn’t even a part of the original Avenger initiative Fury put together. So, he stays put. He stays where he can have a purpose and lead a simple life. Family, stability - that is what Clint needs. 

So he stays out of the way.

Until they need him. And then... Well then.

He will stand his ground and fight.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!  
> Feel free to comment and add comments to what I have written - I love to discuss everything abuout Clint Barton more than I like anything else.


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